Pilates, Nutritarian Recipes and Natural Living by Heidi Marten

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Monthly Archives: March 2012

This is my son’s favorite smoothie. He loves berries, and he loves chocolate. Put them together and he is in heaven. We make our smoothies extra big on “chocolate” days because he drinks as much as we do! Honestly, I’d say this serves one because we make double the size for our family of 2 and a baby!

Sorry, I’m not home so I’m not cooking, which means no recipes for a few more days. However, I did manage to watch “Hungry For Change” and I really enjoyed it! I was not a fan of the other Food Matters film, but this one was great. The take home message is that we need to clean up inside out with the foods we eat, outside in with the chemicals we cover ourselves in, and we need to love and accept ourselves. The last part of this message was actually news to me and I found the argument intriguing. Basically, without love, we feel stressed, and this goes back thousands of years, to our hunter-gatherer days, where not belonging to our group would cause us to die.

This video is free to watch online for the next couple days (until March 31, 2012). WATCH IT! It really is worth your time. I don’t say this all that often but I do think this was really well done.

This is a delicious dish that I got the inspiration for from this blog: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/06/energizing-spicy-broccoli-dal/. I made quite a few changes to the recipe, just a couple changes to the method, a couple changes to ingredients, in order to make it nutritarian. I love, love, love that this recipe uses a lot of broccoli! I would not have thought of adding broccoli into my daal before—spinach, kale, green peas, sure. But broccoli? Nope.

Serve simply as a soup, or over a bed of quinoa or rice. I made quinoa for my son so that the dish wouldn’t be too spicy for his two year old self.

2 tsp red pepper flakes (this is hot! use less if you do not like your food hot)

2 1/2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp turmeric

paprika, for garnish

Method:

Add a couple tablespoons of water to bottom of large pot, heat over medium heat. Add onions and add cumin, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, and turmeric. Sautee until onion is soft and seeds are popping. add lentils and 8 cups broth. Bring to high heat, cover, until reaches boil. Reduce heat to simmer, simmer 15 minutes. Add whole florets, simmer 5 more minutes. Add processed broccoli. Simmer until lentils are soft and broccoli is done, about 5 more minutes. Blend the cashews with the 4 remaining cups of broth. Add to the lentil mixture along with the garam masala and lemon juice. Simmer another minute, and serve.

This is one of my favorite pasta recipes…or should I say vegetable recipes? It is mostly vegetables, a little whole wheat pasta, but mostly vegetables. This dish is Nutritarian friendly and kid friendly, too! Sam loves it.

If you wish, beans would taste great in this recipe. Add an extra clove of garlic and 2 cups or so of cooked canellini or kidney beans—mmm:)

Makes 4-6 servings (we eat a lot!)

Ingredients:

2 onions, diced

6-8 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium eggplant, chopped into 1/2 inch dice or smaller

2 red peppers, chopped

1.25 pound zucchini, chopped

8 oz sliced white or cremini mushrooms

2 28 oz cans of chopped tomatoes (no salt added)

2 Tbs tomato paste

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to taste, I use 3/4 tsp, but then add a few peas to Sam’s bowl so he doesn’t’ taste as much heat)

Method:

Sautee the onion in a little water or broth in a large pot over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic, saute 1 minute more. Add eggplant, stir 1 minute. Add zucchini, peppers, and mushrooms, cook 5 more minutes or so. Pour in tomatoes, paste, broth, and red pepper flakes. Bring to simmer, simmer about 20 minutes to allow flavors to marry. Add spinach, stir until wilted (about 1 minute). Season with pepper to taste and toss with pasta. If you desire, sprinkle a little fresh chopped basil, cilantro or parsley on top of each serving.

One of my good friends (and fellow nutritarian!) is celebrating her birthday this month. I want to make something special for her and keep it as close to perfect nutrition as possible. But, come on, it’s her birthday, I want the final product to taste good!

Although these cupcakes are not completely nutritarian (they do include some sugar, but at about 30kcals of sugar per cupcake, they are very close to nutritarian).

I used my favorite silicon cupcake cups so that I wouldn’t need to oil a muffin tin (or even use a muffin tin!). Check out Le Creuset’s muffin liners

I have not tried the other recipes yet, but I assure you, I will be soon! Many look amazing.

One note of caution: I made the first recipe exactly as written. For the second recipe, I used 1/3 cup sugar instead of the 1/2 because I thought the first recipe was sweet enough. BAM! Instantly I knew I was eating whole grain health food. I could taste the whole wheat above all else and the cupcakes lacked the appropriate texture and taste profile. So, just trust me, this recipe has been tested, and cutting the sugar is a poor, poor idea.

One note: 24 cupcakes divided by two adults and one child in one evening: NOT nutritarian. Ugh, I feel sick. Good gracious, these cakes are that good! (okay, we have a few left. Only a few!)

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 c vegan chocolate chips (I used none, the cupcakes were good without, but I can imagine how decadent they would be with the chips!)

Method:

Combine wet ingredients in medium bowl. Combine dry ingredients in another medium bowl and whisk together to incorporate. Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. (Here is where you will add the chocolate chips or if you are in the mood, nuts, etc). Pour batter between 12 muffin cups. If you are not using silicon muffin liners, you will need to spray the cups so the cupcakes won’t stick.

It is the wrong season for a watermelon slushee, isn’t it? No matter, I made one anyway because I had a watermelon sitting on my counter, begging to be enjoyed.

If, for some reason, this is not sweet enough for you, go ahead and add a date to the mix, but I thought this was plenty sweet—actually, too sweet! I think I’ve been drinking too many green smoothies lately

Ingredients:

1 small (such as pureheart) watermelon

2-3 cups ice (judge by the size of your melon!)

juice from half a lemon or lime

a few mint leaves plus more to garnish (optional)

Method:

Add watermelon to blender first, then add ice and other ingredients. Blend a few seconds until smooth. Enjoy!